Three South Orange and Newark men admit to defrauding banks

NEWARK, NJ — Three Essex County men admitted to conspiring to defraud two banks of $250,000 using stolen credit cards and blank checks, acting U.S. Attorney Rachael Honig announced March 4.

Alexander Varice, 22, and Dashawn Duncan, 27, both of South Orange, and Nasheed Jackson, 24, of Newark, pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton to informations charging each of them with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court, from August 2018 through January 2020, Varice, Jackson and Duncan engaged in a scheme to use stolen credit cards or checks to fraudulently make purchases and withdraw money from two banks. The credit cards were stolen from facilities used by the U.S. Postal Service in Pine Brook and Warren, and never reached the intended cardholders. After obtaining the stolen cards, Varice, Jackson and Duncan used them to make unauthorized purchases at various retail stores and to withdraw cash from ATMs in New Jersey and elsewhere. The blank checks were also stolen from various New Jersey–based post office facilities, and never reached their intended recipients. Varice and Jackson altered the date, payee and amount of the stolen checks prior to deposit into a third-party account so that they could manually enter the amounts that they wanted to fraudulently withdraw from a victim bank ATM.

The charge of conspiracy to commit bank fraud carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a maximum fine of $1 million. Sentencing is scheduled as follows: Varice on July 13, Jackson on July 14 and Duncan on July 19.

  Fraud, U.S. Attorney’s Office